Changes
by OriginalPippie
Summary: The Monkees: Summer of 68. Mike and Trixie get married while Micky finds a new boyfriend. What's left for Davy and Peter to do?
1. Take a giant step

Chapter one: Take a giant step

The gentle fall breeze moved through his raven hair as he stood before the open window. He looked upon the tree just outside the window and a grin fell upon his lips. Seeing this tree had brought back a fond memory of the day he first came to this small island to declare his love for Trixie. It seemed like years ago when that moment had taken place but it had only been a few weeks. His eyes turned away from the tree to the water. The afternoon sun was resting upon the water, falling amongst its ripples. He let out a content sigh before looking behind him into the bedroom and at Trixie.

There she sat in front of a vanity table, brushing out her long red hair. Mike leaned against the window sill, placing his hands behind him, and lightly smirked as he watched her. Over the past few weeks he had spent his time going back and forth from LA to San Francisco. He'd spend a few days with Trixie and the rest of the week at home with the guys. As much as he enjoyed it, Mike knew that things couldn't last the way that they were going. Someone, he believed, was going to have to move. He really adored LA, since it had been his home ever since he had moved away from Texas. Everyone in California that he cared about, some of his favorite places including his "job" were all in LA. The only thing that he cared dearly about that wasn't there in LA was his girlfriend.

Mike really didn't want to leave Trixie for the city he loved. If he did, he wouldn't have been coming all the way out to San Francisco just to see her. He loved her and couldn't bear to let her go. And because of this, just a week prior to this visit Mike had picked out and purchased an engagement ring that he was going to present to her. After helping him choose the right ring for Trixie, the other three Monkees had a rather difficult time with not running over to the phone and spoiling the news to her. If it weren't for Mike hiding the phone from then, Trixie might have asked him for the ring the moment he arrived at her house.

Trixie put down her hair brush while checking her reflection in the mirror. In her hands she picked up small pieces of her hair from the front and made two small braids, one on either side of her head. Then with a barrette she clipped those two braids together in the back of her head. She caught a glimpse of Mike smiling at her in the mirror so she smiled back at him.

"You look lovely."

"Thank you Michael." She got up from her spot at the vanity table and walked over to him

He slipped his hands into hers and kissed her "Hey Trixie let's go outside."

"Alright."

Stepping away from her, Mike walked over to the door. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her as he turned the doorknob. Then with the door open he waved her over to him, signaling for her to go out ahead of him. Trixie grinned as she walked over to the door where Mike stood. She lightly kissed him on the cheek before leaving the room. Mike watched her walk away and down the stairs before he followed her.

Hand in hand they walked outside and stood before the tree for a moment. Mike looked over towards the water and grinned softly. Earlier that day Mike devised his plan that was now unfolding before them, unbeknownst to Trixie. He had snuck outside and hid the ring box amongst a bush that sat right before the shoreline. The box had been left open on purpose. Mike held an arm around Trixie's shoulders as he led her over to the shore and next to the bush. The two of them stood there watching as a couple swans swum by. This, Mike thought, was a nice touch to the moment. He pulled away from her and stepped closer to the bush.

"This turned out to be such a lovely day." She said

"It sure has."

Trixie ran a hand through her hair and then let out a small gasp as something fell to the ground "Oh no!"

"What? What? I didn't do it."

Trixie snickered briefly "Michael I just lost my ring."

"Your ring? What ring?"

"My favorite pinky ring. I knew it was too big for my finger but I wore it anyway. Michael help me find it, please?"

"Of course."

Mike knelt on the ground in front of the bush. In his mind he laughed, feeling that things could not have been more perfect with the sudden loss of Trixie's pinky ring. He moved part of the bush away and picked up the ring box he had hidden there.

"I found somethin'." He said with a smile

"My ring?"

"Well not the one you lost but…" Still upon one knee he turned to face her, holding the ring box in his hand "It's one that I hope you'll like much better. Patricia Jane McEuwin, will you kindly do me the honor of becoming the next Mrs. Nesmith?"

Trixie looked at the ring inside the box and trembled "Oh Michael!"

"What do you say, Trixie? Will you marry me?"

'This is crazy! We've only been together a few weeks!"

"Yes but those have been a few really incredible weeks. I love you and I don't want to be without you."

"Michael get up."

Feeling as though he was about to be rejected, Mike stood up with a sigh. Before he could speak, Trixie pulled him into a deep kiss. After pulling away with a bright smile she held out her left hand.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked, very puzzled

"I'm waiting for you to put the ring on my finger."

"Wait. What?"

"Michael, yes, I will marry you!"

"Oh!"

Mike took the ring out of the box and slipped it over Trixie's finger. He then tossed the box aside and picked Trixie up. He spun with her in his arms before bringing her back down into a kiss.

Micky pulled the balloon off of the helium tank and handed it to Davy to be tied off at the end. Peter walked in through the front door carrying a bag of food and other party favors. He kicked the door closed and walked into the kitchen area to sit the bag down on the table. Micky and Davy continued to blow up balloons as Peter looked around the place.

"Everything is looking great in here."

Micky sucked on the end of a balloon, taking in a deep breath of helium "Thank you Peter." His voice came out much higher and squeakier than usual

Davy took the balloon from Micky and sucked in the rest of the helium "We've been working 'ard on it." His voice did the same thing as Micky's causing both of them to laugh

Peter laughed as well "Yeah it looks like you're working hard on it." He walked over to the tank and took the balloon that Micky had just filled up, and then did the same thing as the two of them had done "Now could you help me with the rest of the stuff I bought?"

Davy and Micky filled their own helium balloons up to suck on again.

"Sure thing Pete." Micky squeaked with a giggle

"Why does everyone sound funny?" Asked the high-voiced Davy

Peter laughed "Maybe we should change out band's name to The Elves!"

"Why not The Chipmunks?"

Micky sucked in more helium "Because it's already taken."

The three of them went into high-pitched giggles until their regular voices returned. They then stepped outside to get the rest of the bags that Peter had sat right outside the front door. After bringing the bags in and putting everything within them away, the three guys finished decorating the downstairs area. Peter handed a piece of streamer to Micky who had just climbed up to the top of the stairs.

"Hey guys?" Peter asked, tossing the tape dispenser to Micky "What if Trixie turned Mike down? We could be doing this for no reason."

"Oh Pete." Micky tapes the streamer up "Of course she'll say yes."

"How can you be so sure?" Asked Davy

"Trust me. I know Trixie better than any of us here. She'll be walking in that door with Mike and she'll have that ring on her finger."

"All I got to say is, you better be right about this, Micky."

Micky jumped down from the stair railing "Don't worry about it so much. Look, people will be over here very soon, the food and shit is all set up, house is decorated. We're having a party whether Trixie said yes to Mike or not. So let's go get ready for it."

"When you're right, Micky, you're right."

The three of them went into their rooms to change their clothes for the party. Shortly after they had changed, the guests began to arrive. The three Monkees made sure to have everyone in place and quieted down when they knew that Mike and Trixie had pulled into the parking garage. Everyone was well hidden once the door was about to open. The door opened and the couple stepped in, but Peter was the only one to jump out of his hiding place.

"Surprise!" He shouted with his hands in the air

"Yeah um… nice to see you too Peter." Mike said, puzzled. He saw the decorations "Hey wait, Peter what's…"

Before he could finish his question, everyone else jumped out of their hiding spots.

"What's this all about?" Trixie asked with a laugh and smile

Micky went over to the couple and used Mike's shoulder as an arm rest "So Mike did she say 'yes' or 'no'?"

"She said yes."

"Well then welcome to your engagement party!" He said while stepping away and waving his hand toward the guests

"An engagement party!" Trixie happily exclaimed "But what if we haven't gotten engaged?"

"Well I guess we would of still had the party but everyone would have sad faces. Like this." Micky waved his hand in front of his face and turned his smile into a frown

Trixie laughed "Oh Micky. You're too much." She kissed him on the cheek

"Whose idea was this party anyway?" Asked Mike

Micky, Davy and Peter looked at each other and then back at the couple. All three of them slowly raised their hands.

"Guilty."

"As."

"Charged."

"Well thank you guys for this." Trixie kissed all three of them on the cheek one by one "It was a real nice surprise."

"You're welcome." The three of them said together

Peter went into the kitchen and got a bottle of champagne and some cups. He had the cups be passed around the room before he brought the champagne bottle back to the center of the room where Mike and Trixie stood. He then began to open the bottle.

"Everyone I dedicate this party to the happy couple; the soon to be Mr. And Mrs. Mike Nesmith!" He popped the cork "Let's party!"

Everyone else cheered and held their empty cups out, waiting for them to be filled. Mike and Trixie were the first ones to receive their cups of champagne. After the brief toast the party had officially begun.


	2. Randy Scouse Git

Chapter two: Randy Scouse Git

What had started out as a fairly small engagement party with close friends, quickly turned to be a big street-wide bash. Word had somehow gotten out that The Monkees were throwing a party and that cued everybody and their brother's dog to go check it out. People were everywhere; in the house, in the garage, in front of the house on both sides and all along the beach. No one had seen a party like this since the surfing contest that had been held on the beach just two or three summers earlier. There were even people around who had no clue who was even having the party or who half the people that were there were. But as long as everyone was happy and having a good time, no one cared about the massive size that the party had quickly grown into.

At one point, Mike and Trixie had managed to break away from the majority of the partiers who were in the house. They went upstairs and into Mike and Micky's room to have a personal celebration of their engagement. After shooing a few people who had a similar idea as them out of the bedroom, neighboring bathroom and even the closet, the two of them could finally be alone. Mike locked the door and then he and Trixie hit the bed.

During this time Davy and Peter were downstairs entertaining a few ladies and debating over who got which woman and even when and where. (A how had even slipped into the conversation.) No one knew where Micky was. But everyone was too preoccupied with what they were doing to notice or even care that he had wandered outside and onto the beach. Micky found his way through the group of people on the sand and met up with a much smaller group of people near the water. This group had gathered in a circle and smoke was in the surrounding air. Micky grinned and popped his head in through the middle of the circle, right on time to have a joint handed to him. The group just laughed and greeted him, allowing him to join the circle. As he hit the joint he looked up at the guy next to him who had done the passing of the joint. He froze momentarily with a frown as he recognized this guy.

"Why 'ello there fuzzball."

That same accent that was very similar to Davy's, as well as the very same way he said the unwanted nickname of "fuzzball", made Micky's skin crawl. He hit the joint again and passed it before looking at the guy again.

"Donnie is it? Don't tell me you have August with you."

Donnie held his smirk despite the fact that Micky had struck a chord "Naw that asshole is long gone by now." He finished with a snort

"What is this? The dumped by August club?" Micky rolled his eyes

"Not exactly a fan club now init?"

"Maybe we should gather up all the rest of the poor souls who had been dumped by that bastard. Start some sort of um…"

"Support group?"

"No I was thinking more if a, uh, go out and kill him group."

Donnie laughed and placed a hand on Micky's shoulder "Really is a small world now. And to think, when we first met in Vegas, we almost got into a three-way fight."

"Yeah… Hey listen I don't mean to be rude but," He brushed Donnie's hand off of his shoulder "Just because we have August in common doesn't mean I'm going to like you. I have no intentions in skipping hand in hand down the beach with you or anything like that."

"I hear ye. I hear ye mate." The joint had worked its way back to him "To be honest, I'm only talking to you right now because you worked your way into the circle an' I really don't know most of these people." He hit the joint

"Don't I feel lucky."

Donnie handed Micky the joint "And if we do find ourselves holding hands and skipping across the beach like a couplea loonies, please do me a favor and shoo' me. K mate?"

"Only if you hold my head under the water until the bubbles stop." Micky hit the joint

"It's a deal."

"Let's not shake on it and pretend that we did." Micky passed the joint before walking away from the circle

Mike panted as he rolled off of Trixie. He wiped the sweat from his forehead onto the back of his arm before looking at her. She had a very soft smile upon her face as she let out a satisfied sigh. He grinned and then lightly kissed her upon her forehead. Her eyes turned up to meet his and her smile brightened.

"I love you Michael."

He kissed her "I love you too. Very much."

She giggled and touched the end of his nose "Do you think we should go back to the party?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" he snickered "There's so many people I bet most of them don't even know who we are let alone the fact that we left everyone."

She giggled again "I suppose you're right about that."

"Of course I'm right." He nuzzled her neck before giving it a little kiss "So," He kissed her neck again "You wanna go again?"

"So soon?" He only smirked at her in reply "You ready for it?"

"Baby, with you I'm always ready."

"Is that so?"

Without saying anything else, Mike rolled back over and onto her. He began to kiss her neck and then sucked on it a little bit. She squealed and laughed once he moved over and did the same thing to the other side of her neck.

Just downstairs Davy, Peter and their group of girls were in the middle of playing a somewhat naughty looking game on the floor. It seemed to be a version of spin the bottle, truth or dare, and the strip part of strip poker all rolled into one. Neither of them knew what this game was for they had been making it up as they went along. During one point in the game Peter leaned in close to the girl nearest to him and whispered something in her ear. The something that he had whispered to her must have turned out sounding like something completely different than what he had actually said, since this prompted her to slap him hard across the face before storming away.

Peter sat there completely stunned as he held the side of his face and trying to figure out what had happened. All Davy and the half naked girl seated upon his lap could do was fall over laughing. Meanwhile the other girls with them sat just as stunned and confused as Peter was. When the sting left his cheek, Peter turned to one of the other girls and began talking to her. He told her the same thing he had whispered to the other girl. But this time he knew he wasn't going to get the same reaction from this girl.

Outside on the beach Micky had found himself wandering from one group of people to another, entertaining as many people as he could. He told jokes. He did corny impressions and voices. He sang. He even danced a little. Also if the mood struck him well he hit on random people whom he thought was cute. Sometimes they flirted back and sometimes they turned him down. But either way he made his mark and moved on. This was the first real night in a long time where he was truly being himself and having fun so he was going to live it up and make the absolute best of the entire night.

Someone out of nowhere had called out his name to get his attention. Then as he turned to see who it was, the person came up to him and grabbed him by the arm and begun to pull him forward.

He laughed "What's going on?"

"Micky a bunch of us are going skinny dipping!" The girl said with a loud, obnoxious laugh

Another girl came up to them on the other side of Micky "Come with us!" She grabbed his other arm

"Looks like I don't have much of a choice!" He laughed again

The three of them walked over to the water where a bunch of other people stood. The people were already stripping and tossing their clothes to the sand. Micky smiled and suggested to the two girls that they should take his clothes off for him. The girls were more than glad to go along with it. The girls kissed him and then Micky took both of them by the hand.

"Ready?" He asked. They confirmed

Then the three of them ran into the water with a shout and a big splash. The other skinny dippers dove into the water as well and everyone began to splash and swim about. Micky wound up separating from the two girls and dove completely under the water. When he came back up he got splashed in the face by someone. He coughed and spat out the sea water and wiped his eyes. Hearing a laugh he looked towards the person he believed to have been the one to splash him.

"Why you mother fucker!"

Donnie stood there and laughed some more "What's the matter, Micky?"

Micky splashed Donnie back, but created a splash that doubled the size of Donnie's. Donnie sputtered and wiped the water out of his face. He then glared at Micky who was standing there laughing.

"You're going t' get it now fuzzball."

"Oh I'm so scared."

"You bettah be."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do?"

Donnie charged after Micky the best that he could in the water. Micky tried to jump out of the way but Donnie managed to grab hold of him by both arms and brought him down into the water with him. Donnie came back up and looked at Micky with a smirk.

"What?"

"Caught a glimpse of something undah there, Micky. That all you got?"

"In my defense the water's cold."

Donnie snickered "Hey mine's not looking like very much right now either."

"I'll have to judge that for myself."

"So you think you're going to ge' to see it then?"

"Why not? You saw mine."

"That's how you're playing it, huh?"

"Could be." Micky held a slight smirk

Micky couldn't figure out exactly what it was about him but suddenly he found himself intrigued by this Donnie character. However, before he could pin-point what it was, Donnie had pushed him down into the water. When Micky resurfaced he was face-to-face with Donnie. There was a soft smile on Donnie's lips and a twinkle in his eyes. For that moment alone everyone else on the beach and in the surrounding water had disappeared. Micky found himself lost in Donnie's eyes, having just noticed how beautiful they were. The two of them were kneeling in the sand with the water just at the same level as their biceps. They remained there for a moment, peering into each other's eyes, and knowing that they both were feeling something interesting within them that they shared.

Earlier that evening Micky could barely stand to talk to Donnie let alone the sight of him. And he knew that Donnie felt the same way about him then. But now Micky was beginning to change his mind about Donnie as they knelt there, naked, in the cold water. He felt as though he didn't have developing feelings or a crush on him, but rather he wanted to know what Donnie was about. And while he was there at the beach that night, Micky had it set in his mind that he was going to get to know more about this Donnie.

Donnie moved in close to him and, much to Micky's surprise, swiftly and seemingly out of sheer impulse, placed a kiss upon his cheek before swimming away. Micky, taken aback but grinning, watched as Donnie swam away. That was when Micky knew for sure that he was going to have to make a move on him.


	3. Counting on you

Chapter three: Counting on you

The day had turned into night and most of the people had left the party. After skinny dipping, Micky and Donnie had found themselves spending time by each other's side. They still were a far cry from holding hands and skipping but they did partake on a nice stroll along the beach together. As they walked they got to know a little bit about each other by talking. They already felt a connection as they found a spot by the water to sit on the sand. Micky had only spent a few hours with Donnie but he already felt comfortable with him. It was as though they had known each other their whole lives. As they sat there on the sand and watched the water as they spoke, Micky slipped his hand into Donnie's. They looked at each other, pausing their conversation, and grinned. Any time after that night the two of them would always debate over who had made the initial kiss in that moment. But either way, Micky was beyond glad that it had taken place.

Back at the house, the other three Monkees and Trixie stood on the balcony. The four of them looked out towards the beach in the direction that Micky and Donnie had gone, having been watching them for the past ten minutes or so.

"Do you see anything?" Davy asked from the back

"If it wasn't so dark out I'd have a clear view of them." Answered Mike

Trixie grinned "They've been out there for a while. What do you suppose they're talking about?"

"Knowing Micky… they're probably making out by now." Peter snickered

"Man I wish it was daylight out."

"No you probably just wish you had a box to stand on, Davy."

"It's not my fault you're a six foot tall freak, Mike!" Davy hopped up and down, trying to see past Mike

"Shh! I think they're coming back!" Trixie stated

"Are they holding hands?" Peter asked in a whisper

"Shh!"

The four of them ducked out of sight once Micky and Donnie came close to the balcony steps. They watched from above as the two guys below faced each other and talked some more. They couldn't pick up on much of what was being said between them but they did hear what sounded to be Micky saying "goodnight" before the two of them shared one last kiss. The four eavesdroppers went back inside quietly once they saw Donnie walking away. They whispered to each other, saying to "act natural" once they knew Micky was coming up the stairs. They all made it seem as though they were cleaning up after the party as Micky came in.

Mike looked up at him "Oh hey. Did you have a good time on the beach?"

"Yeah it's nice out there." Micky sat on the couch with a grin

"Did you get his number?" Asked Trixie with a smirk

"Whose number? What? That guy? Shit I'm working up to that." He paused "How'd you know I was talking to someone out there?"

"WE WERE SPYING ON YOU FROM THE BALCONY!" Peter blurted, causing all but Micky to laugh

Micky's eyes widened and his cheeks developed a slightly pinker tint "You were _watching me_, um, us?"

"Don't worry about it, Mick. We really couldn't see much. And believe me, we tried to see more than what we did. It's real dark out there."

"Oh…" Micky sighed "Well that's ok anyway. We really didn't do much more than talk." He paused and saw that they held the same smirking expression "Ok, ok so we kissed a little too."

"Just as long as we don't wind up having a double wedding around here." Trixie said with a wink

"What?! No, no way. It was only kissing. Now you've got me marrying the guy. Jeeze…" He got up and headed over to the stairs "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight lover boy!" They shouted at the same time, resulting in Micky flipping them all off as he walked up the stairs

About a week had passed since the party. Mike and Trixie wasted no time at all when it came to planning their wedding. They knew that they were going to get married at Trixie's parent's house. Trixie was going to have one of her sisters be her maid of honor and another sister and one of her cousins were going to be bridesmaids. They decided that they were going to keep the ceremony simple and semi-casual. And they were only going to invite family and close friends to keep it small. Her mother was even going to cook a nice dinner for everyone for after the ceremony and her sister was going to handle the cake. The only thing Mike really had to do was choose a best man. But this already proved to be a difficult task. He didn't have to think twice about asking Micky Davy and Peter to stand up with him, but he had no clue who he was going to make his actual best man.

He had considered all three of them his best friend for different reasons. And they were all like his brothers. Micky, he had known the longest since he was the first person Mike had met when he first moved to California. He and Davy had always been close because they shared the same birthday. Then Peter was always there for him no matter what; he had become the first one Mike would talk to when Micky wasn't around.

Micky had shown him the ropes in California and asked him to move into the beach house with him. He was also the first one to shop for instruments with Mike. The two of them had become fast friends and even faster brothers, forming a bond that they knew would not break. Davy was the second one Mike met and became friends with. The two of them had shared stories about their former homes and compared many times England to Texas and how they faired to California. Mike even wound up setting Davy up on his first American date in California. When Peter came along, as a wandering homeless musician, carrying a bass along with him, Mike was the one who spotted him and invited him over to the beach house. Despite the fact that Peter was older, Mike wound up thinking of him as more of a little brother. In fact Peter was the first one to call him "Papa Nez". Mike grinned, knowing that Peter was always the only one (besides Trixie) who ever had gotten away with calling him that.

Mike sat back and thought about his three best friends and all of their wonderful qualities. He thought about how Micky could always make him laugh no matter what mood he was in. The two of them were capable of having very lengthy and sometimes extremely deep conversations that would often lead them into late in the night. Mike knew this side of Micky was only expressed with him. With Davy he had someone he could always try out new songs on and see how they sounded coming through Davy's vocal chords. He also was the one who Davy would discuss certain girls with, more than any other of the guys. And as much as they picked on each other over their height difference among other things, they never did it in a mean-spirited way. Mike and Peter often compared their music skills in almost a competitive way, but never got to the point where they got upset with each other over it. There were times where Mike secretly thought that Peter was the better musician and thought that Peter might have felt the same way about him. But neither of them ever admitted it to each other. Mike also liked how caring and thoughtful Peter was, and his unusual outlook on the world around him.

These were his three closest friends with different wonderful qualities. And he knew that they all would forever have each other's back no matter what. So deciding which one of them got to be his best man was just like swimming upstream while carrying boulders on his back. When he realized this he decided what he needed to do. He walked over to the bandstand where the three of them were gathered with their respected instruments.

"Listen fellas. Before we start practice I have something to say." They all looked at him at the same time "As you know I have been trying to decide which one of you I want to be my best man. And I've decided."

"Great!" Micky exclaimed, jumping up from behind his drums "Who is the lucky guy? Say Micky! Say Micky!" He held up his crossed fingers

"Mick…"

"Yes! I knew it!" He did a victory dance while pointing at Davy and Peter "I win! You lose! I win and you lose!"

"MICKY!"

Micky stopped his victory dance "What?"

"Now wait. I was just trying to tell you to hush."

"Oh…" He sat back down "Never mind then."

"Yeah if you'd be quiet you would hear him say that I'm his best man." Peter said proudly

"You?! In your dreams Tork." Davy said "Mike clearly wants me as his best man."

"No Davy you're too short to be his best man."

"And, um, your hair is too fuzzy for you to be his best man! Besides he already turned you down, Micky."

"So that leaves me!" Peter smiled, showing off his dimples

"Would you three shut up and let me speak?"

They made a zipping motion over their mouths.

"Good. Now my decision..." Mike cleared his throat "I have decided that… my best man… would be… You ready for this?"

"Just tell us!" They exclaimed together

"Ok, ok. My best man is going to be…. Decided by you guys."

"What?!" The three of them cried together

"You must be johking!" Stated Davy

"You really want us to decide for you?" Asked Peter

"That's like telling Peter not to trip over his own feet when he walks!" Micky cried with a groan, followed by a "Hey!" from Peter

"I know, I know…" Mike ran a hand through his hair "But it's been too hard for me to make this decision. So I'm counting on you guys to do it for me."

Mike picked up his guitar and strummed a couple chords to signal that he was ready to move onto the band practice. Feeling a little disappointed, the other three Monkees, although hesitant, began to play their instruments as well. As they began their practice, Mike began to silently wonder if maybe he was making a mistake by having them choose his best man for him.


	4. Cuddly Toy

Chapter four: Cuddly Toy

After the practice three of the four Monkees gathered together in the living room area while the fourth left the house. Micky, Davy and Peter stood in front of the couch and tried to discuss Mike's decision, or lack-there-of, about who got to be his best man.

"It seems to me, " Micky said "That we must do this in a mature, civil, democratic way. Right?"

"Right." Davy and Peter said together

"The problem is… how are we going to pull that off?"

The three of them silently thought for a moment before Davy spoke up.

"I think I've got it. 'Ave we got a hat?"

"Only Mike's." Peter replied

Micky left the room to retrieve Mike's wool hat from the bedroom upstairs "Got it." He said, coming back downstairs with the hat in his hand "What's it for, Davy?"

"We use it to vote. Ye know, we all drop pieces of paper with out best man vote on it, into the hat and someone picks them out of the hat." Davy explained

The three of them then quietly wrote their votes on pieces of paper and dropped them into the hat. When all three paper slips were in the hat, Micky nominated himself to draw a paper put.

"Ok… here we go." He reached into the hat and made a vocal drum roll "And the winner is…" he pulled the paper out and read it "What?" he looked at Peter "Come on. We are not dressing a dog in a tuxedo and making that the best man."

Peter bashfully shrugged "It was worth a try."

"Ok…" Micky pulled another paper out and read it "Just as I guessed, one vote for the midget, I mean Davy. And the last one is my vote and I voted for myself."

"So that's one vote for each of us, and one vote for a dog in a tux." Davy shook his head "We're never going to decide this."

Another wave of silence moved over them.

"Well we don't have to decide this right now." Said Peter

"You're right." Micky replied before looking at his watch "Besides I have somewhere to go."

Micky walked away from them and headed over to the door.

"See you later."

"Say hi to Donnie for us!" Davy called with a smile

For a second Micky paused to say something. But he decided against what he was going to say and walked out the door.

The past week Micky had spent much of his time either with Donnie in person or talking to him on the phone. A few times he had driven the other three guys in the house crazy by spending up to three hours on the phone with him, talking about everything and nothing. But when they were together they decided to take things slow. Both of them had recently gotten out of relationships and were a little weary about being in another one. However the fact that they both had been dumped by the same guy caused them to form a bond.

Micky lay with his head in Donnie's lap as Donnie sat on the couch in his living room. Donnie lazily ran his fingers through Micky's untamed mop of curls and gazed down at him with a soft smile. Micky laced his fingers through the fingers on Donnie's free hand and let out a happy sigh. He then turned his eyes up towards Donnie, catching his smile.

"I feel so comfortable with you, Donnie."

"Well that's real good." He grinned "I feel the same about you."

Micky sat up and placed a hand on Donnie's cheek. He then gave him a slow, deep kiss. Pulling away he then pressed his forehead against Donnie's forehead and looked into his eyes.

"We've been seeing each other for a little more than a week. And I know we agreed to take things slow."

"But?"

"How would you feel about moving this up a notch?"

Donnie grinned "What do you have in mind, Micky?"

"I want us to be exclusive." He tenderly kissed him

"I'd like that." He returned the kiss "I'd like that a lot."

"That makes me so happy." His statement was followed by a few small, rapid kisses and one warm and lingering kiss

Another week had gone by and The Monkees were practicing as usual. Only this particular practice they had special guests in the house watching them. Mike had brought Trixie over, partly to discuss the wedding. Micky had been spending the day with Donnie so he had just stayed over to watch the band. Davy even invited a girl he had been dating the past few days over, and was showing off his tambourine skills, singing and terrific dance moves just for her. Peter didn't have a date but he was babysitting a friend's dog while he was gone on vacation. This of course prompted the others to crack jokes about the dog being Peter's date for the evening.

After the practice was over, and Davy had taken his date home, everyone spent the rest of the night hanging out together. Micky and Donnie, however, wound up sneaking away from the rest of the group and headed upstairs to the bedroom Micky shared with Mike. There they crawled on top of one of the beds, embraced in a kiss. At first they sat up, kissing with their arms loosely wrapped around each other. Then slowly they reclined, facing each other. The kisses continued and their hands began to wander. Micky slid a hand up Donnie's shirt and rested it on his side. This caused Donnie to twitch a little to his light touch. Micky grinned, letting out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?" Donnie asked

"Nothing's funny. You're just cute."

"I can't help it if I'm ticklish."

"I know." Micky laughed before nuzzling Donnie's nose

Micky pulled Donnie closer before kissing him some more. He then whispered something in Donnie's ear, causing him to laugh.

"Hey Micky," (kiss) "Do you think any of your friends would be bothered by us, um, being up here right now?"

"You mean making out? Nah they don't care." He paused "Well Mike might care that we're in his bed." He laughed

"Well good. I mean. Well… How do they really feel about you and me um… being together?"

"Oh Donnie! They don't give a shit who I choose to be with. They're totally cool about this."

"Are you sure? They don't always seem like it."

"Well they are still getting used to the idea of me dating guys. Hell it's still a new thing for me. But other than that they think it's fine." He kissed him "Besides," (kiss kiss) "Even if they had a problem with it, I wouldn't let them do anything to my Cuddly Toy."

"Oh Fuzzball." He kissed him back "You're a prince."

"I wouldn't say prince. I'm more like the court jester."

The two of them met in another kiss and Micky crawled on top of Donnie. They suddenly pulled apart, mid kiss, once they heard a third person in the room clear her throat. They turned and looked to see Trixie standing by the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Damn it Micky!" She said in mock anger "Why is it, every time you're making out with a boyfriend I'm the one who has to catch you in the middle of it?" She smirked

Micky's face reddened "H-how long have you been there?"

"Not too long. But long enough. You really need to close the door behind you."

"Oh um… I uh…" Micky's face grew redder as he stammered

Trixie giggled "Oh Micky." She stepped closer to the door "When you and, um, Cuddly Toy, are through could you come downstairs? Michael and I would like to discuss the wedding with all of you guys."

"Oh um… yeah sure…" His voice had gotten much quieter as he avoided looking at her

"Hey just be glad I didn't catch you without your clothes on." She grinned and left the room

A few moments later Micky and Donnie walked back downstairs. They paused and looked over at the other four who were seated upon the couch. The couch had been moved and angled to where they would have a clear view of them as they descended the staircase. The four of them, including the dog that sat on Peter's lap, looked as though they were at the movie theatre about to view the main attraction. After glaring at them, Micky walked Donnie over to the front door. When the two of them were about to kiss, the four on the couch let out a little cheer.

"Get 'em Dolenz!" One of them shouted, causing Micky to glare in their direction. All four of them covered their mouths

Micky went back to where he was about to kiss Donnie. Another shout interrupted them.

"C'mon Donnie let's get away from the peanut gallery over there."

"Good idea."

They were about to slip out the door when someone else shouted.

"Goodbye Cuddly Toy!"

Micky glared at all of them to see that they were pointing their blaming fingers at each other. One finger even pointed at the innocent dog. Micky just shook his head un-amused and led Donnie out the door. Moments later Micky came back inside and stood facing the couch with a frown and his arms crossed.

"That wasn't funny."

"Aw come on Micky." Said Trixie "What happened to your sense of humor?"

"Fuck you. Fuck you is what happened to it." Immediately following his statement he headed upstairs

The slam of the bedroom door caused all of them to jump in their seats. They all looked at each other out of guilt and shame. None of them wanted Micky to react this way, nor did they expect it. They thought that he would have laughed it off like he normally would have done. But since he didn't they knew that they had gone too far. And they knew that all they had to do then was give him some space for the time being.

When Micky became upset like he was, he didn't stay that way for very long. After an apology from the others, Micky bounced right back to his happy-go-lucky state. And everyone else realized just by watching him that ever since he got this new boyfriend, Micky had become even happier than he ever had been before.


	5. Pleasant Valley Sunday

Chapter five: Pleasant Valley Sunday

The following Sunday was the big day, and it could not have come sooner. The guys had gotten up earlier than usual so they all could have their showers and get ready to go. Mike sat on the edge of his bed staring at his clothes while Micky was in the shower. He refused to admit that he was nervous but he knew his actions were giving him away. Davy had poked his head into the room and asked him something about a hair brush that he was looking for. Mike simply told him he didn't have it and Davy went back downstairs. Peter was in the downstairs bedroom, busy playing with the dog he still was babysitting. Davy asked him a couple times if he was planning on getting ready any time soon and Peter, while playing with the dog, replied that he had plenty of time to get ready.

By the time Micky had come out of the shower, Mike was now standing up in front of his bed. For some reason he couldn't seem to remember how to get his fingers to work the buttons on his shirt. Micky walked over to his bed and began to get dressed. He looked over at Mike and grinned softly.

"You doing ok Mike?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm just… yeah." He finally managed to get his shirt buttoned

"Alright just making sure."

Micky put on his shirt but left it unbuttoned as he walked back into the bathroom. After what seemed to be about ten minutes he came back out of the bathroom to see that Mike had hardly done anything else. Mike sat back down on his bed and considered greatly putting on his shoes. Instead he looked up at Micky and blinked in surprise.

"What?" Micky asked, finally buttoning his shirt

"Nice hair, Mick. You actually combed it for once."

"Oh yeah I figured this was a special occasion." He grinned proudly

With his hair still wet Micky had combed it out to where it was nearly straight. He parted it off to the side and left small curls near the bottom and around his ears. This way he knew that once it dried it would be neatly waved.

Mike lightly grinned "Well it looks good like that, Mick."

Micky just chuckled softly and picked up his jacket and tie "See you downstairs."

Three of the Monkees stood next to each other by the front door, waiting for Mike. They were all dressed basically the same way but with their own personal touches. They wore white button down shirts, grey slacks and had matching grey jackets and ties. Micky had his shirt un-tucked and left his tie untied and draped around his neck and shirt collar. He also held his jacket in his hand and draped it over his shoulder. Peter opted to go without his jacket. He wore tan moccasin style boots and had his pant legs tucked into them. His bangs were parted down the middle instead of their regular part off to the side, and instead of a tie he wore two beaded necklaces. Davy was the only one who wore his jacket except he had turned it inside out to show off the blue silk lining on the outside. He did tie his tie, unlike Micky, but he had it loose around his neck so it would hang low.

Mike came downstairs fully dressed. He was the only one who was dressed the "proper" way; jacket on, shirt tucked and tie tied tightly. He walked over to the other three and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Well uh," He cleared his throat "Y'all ready?"

Micky placed a hand on Mike's shoulder "Let's go get you married." He smiled

Mike looked at him and then at the other two and saw they were smiling as well. He then smiled softly, trying not to let his nerves show "Ok let's go Monkees."

When they got to the McEuwin house, they were immediately greeted and pulled inside the house by Trixie's sisters and cousin. The two McEuwin sisters took Micky, Davy and Peter into one room while the cousin took Mike into another. All the while the three girls were chattering away whether the guys were paying attention to what was being said or not. As soon as they knew Mike was out of sight, the cousin and Trixie entered the room where the others were. Just like the two sisters, the cousin was chattering to Trixie, not caring if she was paying attention to her or not. When Trixie saw the three guys she smiled and gave them each a hug, which they happily returned. The guys watched the three girls leave and then looked at Trixie. She nodded with a roll of her eyes.

"I know. My family's _very _Irish. I'm probably the only one who didn't receive the gift of gab."

"It's a good thing too." Said Micky "Cause if you talked as much as them, Mike would shoot himself." Peter and Davy snorted and Trixie stifled a laugh "What?"

"It's not like you don't ever talk a lot, Micky." Said Peter

"Well yeah… But I don't talk like that." He pointed towards the direction the other girls had gone into

"Well no not quite." Trixie said with a grin

"But you have been known to not know when to shut up." Davy quipped

"Oh you mean like how you don't know not to not hit on girls?"

"Oh you boys." Trixie giggled and then kissed each of them on the cheek "You all look nice by the way." They replied with their thanks at the same time "Oh I almost forgot! I got each of you small flowers to wear."

Trixie stepped away from them and left the room. When she returned a minute later she had four boutonnieres in her hand. Then with a smile she carefully pinned a boutonniere to each of them.

"There. You're all so handsome." She paused to look at them "Oh! Could one of you give Michael his boutonniere when you see him?

"Oh sure." They nodded as they spoke in unison

"Great. I got to get ready. But before I go, Micky you're walking down the aisle with my sister Cassie. Peter you're with Mandie and Davy you're going to be with my cousin Theresa." She started waling out of the room

"But which one is which?"

"Don't worry they'll let you know!" And with that she was gone

The three guys looked at each other with the same amount of uncertainty plastered upon their faces. But they knew enough to just trust Trixie and nothing could go wrong. A moment after Trixie had left the room Mike entered and went up to the other Monkees.

"Still nervous, mate?" Davy asked

"Not so much."

Davy picked up the forth boutonniere that Trixie had left "Here Trixie wanted you to wear this."

"Oh thanks."

"I've got it." Davy grinned softly as he pinned the flower to Mike's jacket just above the pocket at the top. "There ye go." He brushed off imaginary imperfections from Mike's jacket

Mike grinned "Thanks Davy." He paused "Well everything has come together nicely for today. Now I've got one question. Who is my best man?"

The three of them looked nervously at each other and then back at Mike

"Don't tell me…:"

"We haven't exactly decided that yet." Peter confessed

"What?! I can't believe you guys! I trusted you to make this one decision for me and you didn't do it."

"Well it wasn't exactly an easy thing to do, Mike." Said Micky "Hey why don't you go, um, talk to the girls or something and we'll decide right now."

"Well fine. But I better have a best man before the wedding starts." Mike said as he started walking away

"Don't worry." Said Davy "You can count on us."

Mike left the room and was instantly spied by Trixie's sisters and cousin. The girls grabbed him and allowed their chatter to consume him whole. The other three guys shook their heads with a laugh.

"He's a gonner." Micky said

"Ok let's make this decision." Replied Peter

"Yes. Let's." Added Davy

They stood in a moment of silence as they tried to think.

"Hey Pete?" Micky asked, breaking the silence

"Yeah?"

"You're still babysitting your buddy's dog, right?"

"Yeah why?"

"We may need him after all."

Davy shook his head "No good. We don't have a dog sized tux."

They all laughed before becoming serious again. After a moment or two their faces lit up at the same time. It was suddenly so obvious who the best man should have been all along.

The wedding was finally about to begin. Before Mike walked out to his spot he went over to Micky Davy and Peter.

"So," He whispered "Who is my best man?"

The three of them grinned and spoke at the same time "I am."

"Wait. What? Are you kidding me?"

"Nope." Micky let out a slight snicker "We decided that you shouldn't have one best man."

"So you have three!" Peter finished with a very dimpled grin

"Say 'ello to your best men." Said Davy with a nod

"Well that certainly is a surprise. But one that I like." Mike laughed "I'd love to keep talking to you but I've got to get married."

"Go on Nesmith!"

Mike walked away with a smile and went over to his spot at the altar. The music started and then the three best men with their respected bridesmaids walked down the aisle. They took their places and then the flower girl (Trixie's five year old niece) came down the aisle dropping flower petals. The music changed and then everyone else stood up. Trixie and her father walked down the aisle together.

Trixie was beautifully dressed in a sundress that was both simple and elegant. The white dress with small light pink flowers just reached her knees. Her white strapped sandals had pink flowers attached to the sides of the top straps; the tiny flowers matched the ones on the dress. Her red hair had been left down but in smooth waves that flowed behind her. Instead of a veil she wore a ring of daisies on top of her head. In her hand she carried a small bouquet of the same pink flowers and daisies. When Mike saw her, his eyes twinkled and a soft grin rested upon his mouth. At that moment he thought he had never seen her look so lovely. With Trixie in her place by Mike, the ceremony officially began.

After the ceremony more people showed up at the house for the reception. This included Brownie, Tulip, Donnie and even Davy's date for the evening. During the dinner, the wedding party aside from the bridesmaids quietly talked and laughed amongst themselves. Micky mentioned with a somewhat sheepish laugh about how Cassie hit on him right before the wedding, and how he had to turn her down after she gave him a kiss on the cheek. He had mentioned to her about how he was already in a relationship but he neglected to tell her with whom it was. Davy and Peter said how they had bridesmaid problems of their own. Davy had hit on Theresa but got turned down, while Peter had the same problem with Mandie. Mandie's reason for turning Peter down was the fact that she was married. Theresa's reason was the fact that Davy wasn't "her type". Davy quickly learned that this meant that she was into girls about as much as he was. This caused laughter to roar from the wedding party's side of the table, especially when Micky nearly choked on his wine he had just taken a drink of.

Sometime in the middle of dinner, Donnie had moved closer towards Micky, whispered something in his ear that sparked the curly haired man's interest, and the two of them left the dinning room. They snuck off towards the bedroom and went into the room where the coats were being kept on the bed. After pushing a few coats off the bed the two of them lay down in a midst of feverous kisses. The two of them heard someone coming down the hallway towards the room they were in but they ignored it and continued their kissing. They began to undress, slipping out of their shirts as they remained deep within their passionate kisses. A feminine gasp from the doorway, however, brought them to a screeching halt.

"Micky!"

Right away he recognized the voice and turned his head, red-faced, towards the door "Coco?!" He quickly sat up and moved away from Donnie "What are you doing here?!"

"Mike invited me." She stood, trying to remain calm but her eyes were wide "I just came in to put my coat on the bed. I didn't expect to see my brother making out with s-some _guy._"

Micky and Donnie stood up while putting their shirts back on. (And secretly thanked God that they had only their shirts to put on.) Micky loosely held onto Donnie's hand and approached his still stunned sister.

"Coco I know we haven't talked in a while and um… well I have a lot to tell you."

"Yeah it sure looks that way." Her eyes had finally returned to normal size and she even managed to muster up a grin "So… who might this be, brother?"

"Coco this is Donnie. Donnie this is my sister Coco."

Donnie picked up Coco's hand and lightly kissed it "Charmed." He said, purposely thickening his accent "I certainly see the family resemblance." He grinned, causing the siblings to blush together

"So Micky. Is Donnie… I mean he's your um…"

"You can say it." Micky smiled "He's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend. Micky all this time I thought you liked girls."

"I do. Well that is, I like both. I just never, um, advertised it before."

Coco laughed "That you did not. So who else knows about this?"

"Just the guys, Trixie and a couple other friends of ours."

"Are you trying to keep it a secret?"

"No. Well not exactly. I mean I figure people will eventually find out about this. I've just haven't gotten around to actually saying it yet."

She nodded "I understand. Must not be an easy thing to let be known about you. Probably why you haven't told you own sister about it." She smirked

"Yeah well…" He grinned with a slight blush

Coco threw her arms and Micky's shoulders "It's so good to see you again Micky!"

He hugged her back "Good to see you too! I've missed you!"

Donnie cleared his throat and the siblings separated "I hate to break up this family reunion, but I think we should get back to the reception."

"Oh Donnie you still here?" Micky laughed "Yeah you're right, let's um…" he looked at Donnie and then at himself "Let's button our shirts and go out there."

The three of them laughed together. As the two guys buttoned their shirts, Donnie remarked about how similar Micky and Coco's laughs were. The sibling's grinned a little sheepishly and both appeared as though they were about to make a funny remark. But then at the same time they both decided against it. The three of them then left the room and headed back to the reception.


	6. Good clean fun

Chapter six: Good clean fun

When the three of them returned to the reception Mike couldn't help but laugh at them. He confessed that he was the one who told Coco to go back to the room where Micky and Donnie were, knowing damn well what the couple was doing. However, Micky was able to laugh over this, partly due to the fact that he was very glad to have reunited with his sister in the process.

The Monkees, Trixie, Donnie and Coco wound up separating themselves from the rest of the reception so they could talk. Coco had simply asked how Mike and Trixie had met and even how the whole Micky-Donnie relationship came to be. The answers of course were not simple. They explained about Micky singing for The Nuggets and the whole August thing that they had gone through, including the fall out between Mike and Micky. They told her about how August dumped Micky in the middle of their road trip and how Mike and Trixie rescued him. They even explained about the Vegas trip they took and how Trixie wound up saving Mike's life while they were there. Micky also told Coco that the first time he met Donnie was when they were in Vegas, and Donnie was with August. He also said, somewhat shamefully, that he almost got into a fight with August over Donnie.

"…and then during the engagement party for Mike and Trixie, I wound up running into Donnie again." Micky said while nearing the end of his part of the story "We didn't like each other at first. But then after we and a buncha other people went skinny dipping… I guess we changed our minds about each other." He snickered while smiling at Donnie who sat by his side

"We've pretty much been together evah since." Donnie stated

"Wow…" Coco snickered, absorbing the entire story "Now I know what you meant by you had a lot to tell me, Micky."

"Jus' be glad it wasn't just Micky telling you the story." Said Davy "He would still be droning on about it." This resulted in a hard smack on top of the head from Micky's hand "Ow!" He rubbed the spot that Micky hit "Jeeze…"

Coco laughed "No matter. I'm used to Micky's ramblings. I grew up with him, didn't I?"

All but Micky laughed. He hesitated and then nodded his head in an "I know" motion and then joined in with the laughter.

The night had fallen and four men entered the beach house together. Peter went over to the couch where the dog lay curled up on a cushion, and then he scratched the pooch behind the ears. Davy slipped into the downstairs bedroom to change his clothes.

"Whoa…" Brownie said "When'd you guys get a dog?"

"Oh that's Buddy. I'm watching him while his owner is away on vacation."

Tulip walked over to the couch and petted the dog "Nice lookin' pooch."

Brownie lit up a joint "Would be cool to get him high."

Tulip laughed and walked over to Brownie and took the joint from him "Maybe we should do that, man!"

Davy left the bedroom and spied the joint "Man." He snickered "You two don't waste any time now do you?"

Tulip exhaled a cloud of smoke and handed the joint to Davy "Here Dave, smoke up!"

Davy took the joint and hit it. Peter walked over to them, closing the circle. After Davy passed the joint to him, Peter took a toke before looking over to the dog on the couch.

"Awww…" He slowly exhaled "He looks lonely."

A few minutes later the four guys sat on the floor in front of the couch, engulfed with laughter. The dog on the couch yawned before licking one of its legs. Another joint had just been lit and was being passed around. There was already some smoke in the air but it was beginning to thicken as they smoked the second joint.

"Hey man!" Said Brownie "Check this out." He puffed on the joint and then blew the smoke directly into the dog's face

The other three guys laughed once the dog appeared to be effected by the smoke. Tulip reached underneath him and pulled out Mike's wool hat. He then laughed and placed the hat upon the dog's head. The laughter ensued and one of them pointed out that the dog looked just like Mike. This caused Davy to fall over while holding his stomach as he laughed.

"He does!" He laughed

Peter joined Davy, laughing on the floor. Brownie and Tulip also followed suit and the four of them continued their bout of obnoxious laughter.

Mike lay on his side and propped himself up on his elbow. He looked with a grin over at Trixie as she lay there next to him. His grin grew once the thought occurred to him that this was the first time the two of them shared a moment like this as husband and wife. And at that moment he knew that she had the very same thought. She let out a sigh of contentment while looking at him. He reached over and brushed a few strands of red hair away from her face and tucked them behind her ear. She smiled at him and then he gently rested his hand onto her cheek. Leaning forward Mike then lightly pressed a kiss upon her lips.

"You want to go again?" He asked in partial whisper

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck "Come here hubby."

As the two of them kissed, Mike crawled on top of her. During a small break in between kisses, Trixie let out another giggle. Mike kissed her some more before moving his mouth onto her neck. As things became more heated and passionate, the two of them knew that this was the start of a wonderfully amazing night, and one of the best nights they would share in their new life as husband and wife.

Micky was snuggled up close to Donnie, resting his head on Donnie's chest. His eyes were closed and there was a faint smile on his lips. Donnie brushed some curls away from Micky's forehead before lightly kissing it. Micky's eyes fluttered open and his smile brightened as he looked at him.

"I knew you weren't sleeping." Donnie grinned

"Couldn't fool you, could I?"

"Why would you pretend to be asleep around me?"

Micky chuckled "I wouldn't." He kissed him "You're too cute for me to want to miss a thing about you."

Micky sat up and stretched. He ran a hand through his hair for a moment before looking at Donnie again. A smirk fell upon Micky's mouth as he gazed at his British boyfriend. Donnie, who remained in laying position, looked at Micky with a puzzled grin.

"What's that look for?"

"Mmm… I just got an urge to do something."

For just a split second the two of them shared a mental cringe over Mikcy's line. This type of line had been uttered to them both by August shortly before the fall of their relationships with the rat of a man. But that mental cringe had disappeared just as fast as it had arrived. Micky then savagely pounced on Donnie, attacking him with passionate kisses. The two of them began to kiss and grope at each other in a wild, almost animalistic, way. They were both glad that they didn't have to pause in order to separate themselves from their annoyingly inconvenient clothes since the only thing that covered their bodies at the time was the sheet and blanket from the bed.

A hand slipped beneath the covers and rested on the thigh of one of the two men. A gasp slipped out of his mouth and a shiver waved through his upper body when he felt the hand slide off of his thigh and onto his crotch. Micky let a triumphant smirk rest on his mouth as he held his hand over Donnie's warm crotch. He slowly slid one finger up and down the length of Donnie's penis, causing blood to rush to it. Donnie let out a small gasp as his vocal chords made an attempt at producing sound. Micky's fingers then wrapped around the hardened shaft which brought a grin of excitement and anticipation to Donnie's face. Micky's fingers slid up to the base of the head and paused there for a second or two. He licked his lips and then stretched his thumb over the top of the head. Donnie let out a gasp and then bit down on his bottom lip as he felt Micky's thumb rub him in a circular motion.

After a little bit of teasing Donnie with his thumb, Micky smirked. He looked into Donnie's eyes with that smirk and saw the expression that read "what are you going to do?" He only let go of Donnie's hard appendage and slid down the length of Donnie's body. Then with one last lick of his lips, Micky took Donnie into his mouth.

Back at the house, the four guys had moved on from smoking and laughing. Instead they had engrossed themselves in deep conversation. One of the guys suddenly picked his head up as though he had gotten a bright idea. He had remembered that they had been given a couple big bottles of wine what was left over from the wedding reception. It didn't take long before those bottles had been brought inside and opened. The four men had their glasses of wine and gave a toast. Or rather four separate toasts, one right after another.

"To Mike and Trixie!"

"To new friends and lovers!"

"To great pot!"

"To Mike the cocker spaniel!"

After the forth toast, they all shared a short laugh and clinked their glasses together. As they drank their wine they all relaxed and talked some more. Tulip and Brownie began to talk, mainly to each other, about the "good old days" of their former band The Nuggets, and how they were disappointed to see it come to such an abrupt end. Davy and Peter were then cued to telling them about the early days of The Monkees and some of the things they had all been through together over the past few years. This also led into conversation about how now the two groups had come together with the joining of Mike and Trixie.

After this part of the conversation they all began to contemplate the new relationship between Micky and Donnie. Davy and Peter had mentioned about how up until August, Micky had never even as much as mentioned a word to either of them that he was into guys as well as girls. It had taken them by surprise but when it came down to it they knew that this was just another part of Micky that they were happy to embrace. After all, who were they to even think of judging one of their best friends? With that in agreement, the four of them, over fresh drinks, began to take bets over how long they thought Micky and Donnie's relationship would last. Davy bet three more weeks. Peter said the couple would last at least two more months. Brownie and Tulip both bet that the couple would be together until the following February, possibly breaking up just after Valentine's Day.

Two of the four big bottles of wine had been consumed and three and a half more joints were smoked between the four of them before they all decided to call it a night. Brownie and Tulip found random places downstairs to crash while Davy and Peter had gone into their bedroom. The two Monkees, feeling very good from the wine and pot, laughed as they carelessly went about their bedroom together, getting ready for bed. The two of them had barely managed to undress all the way in order to get into their pajamas. In fact, they had stripped down to their underwear before they had given up and both collapsed into bed.

Davy had practically passed out the moment his head had hit the pillow. Peter crawled into bed, not caring enough to pull the covers up over him as he did so, and closed his eyes. He wrapped his arm around what he believed to have been his beloved teddy bear and then drifted off to sleep.


	7. Look out, here comes tomorrow

Chapter seven: Look out, here comes tomorrow

The two lovers had been asleep for a while, having exhausted each other during their throws of passion. They lay snuggled close together as they contently slept. The morning light from the nearby window rested upon both sleeping bodies before spreading out over their faces. Micky cringed and then shifted his position to shield his eyes from the sun. He burrowed his face into the crook between Donnie's arm and chest, hoping that the sunlight would not be able to find his eyes. Now with his head pressed against the upper left side of Donnie's chest, he was able to hear the soothing beat of his heart. A soft grin rose to his lips and he let out a happy sigh.

Donnie stirred, causing Micky's head to slip off of his chest. Micky now found himself face down into the mattress. He then let out a small grunt of displeasure before lifting his head.

"Morning luv." Donnie said before yawning

"The hell time is it?" Micky lay his head back down, burying his face into the pillow "Too early 30?"

Donnie chuckled "I take it you're not much of a morning person, Micky."

"If the morning came in the middle of the night I would be fine."

Donnie couldn't help but laugh. A pillow torpedoed into Donnie's face as Micky smacked him with it repeatedly. The pillow beaten Donnie then surrendered and Micky ceased his hitting. They lay still once again, cuddling within each other's arms. Since it was still very early morning neither of them felt the need or want to leave the comfort of the bed. Instead the two of them lay there, cuddled and talked. They talked in the bed for what seemed to be hours, but neither of them had actually turned their eyes to the clock in order to see how much time had gone by.

"You know Donnie… I have to be honest about something with you."

"What about?'

"Because of August…" He paused to try to pick his words carefully "I didn't think I would be able to fall in love with someone so soon."

"But?"

"With you I can see myself doing that again."

"Oh really?" He softly grinned. Micky nodded his head "Well I'm really glad to hear that."

"It wasn't easy for me to say."

"Why not?"

"Because… what I had gone through shortly before we got together. I guess um… I guess I've just been scared of falling in love again."

"So you wouldn't get hurt?" Again Micky nodded "Well I've felt the same way. Too scared to get hurt again. But with you I just… I trust that I won't get hurt."

Micky grinned broadly and his eyes sparkled "Donnie you have no idea how happy that makes me." He kissed him "It's incredible how we're on the same wave length here."

"Yeah…" he grinned "In some sick way I almost want to thank August for what he's done to us."

Micky let out a small laugh "He inadvertently brought us together by breaking our hearts. If it wasn't for him you and I probably wouldn't have met."

"Perhaps we should have a fruit basket sent to him to show our appreciation."

Micky laughed loudly, causing Donnie to laugh as well. The two of them then met into a kiss or two before continuing their conversation.

Davy shifted and rested his head on Peter's shoulder. Peter had hardly moved the whole time he was asleep, and still had an arm wrapped around the "teddy bear" that lay next to him. He nuzzled the "bear" a little and gave it a little squeeze with his arm. That was when something did not seem right at all to both of them. They opened their eyes and slowly pulled away from each other in stunned silence.

"Blood-dy…"

"Hell…

Davy shot up all the way and his eyes widened "What're ye doing in me bed?!" he exclaimed, his accent thickening

"_Your _bed? What are you doing in _my _bed?! And what did you do with my bear?!"

"Petah I 'avent seen your bloody bear! Shit! What the hell happened last night?" He sprung out of the bed as quickly as he could "What did we do?"

"You're asking me?!" Peter pulled the sheet up over him as he sat there

The two of them stood and sat there in their quiet panic as millions of thoughts rushed to them at the same time. All of the thoughts were of, albeit, unpleasant possibilities of how they could have wound up in bed together, and of – gasp! – what possible things the two of them could have done while in the bed. However, neither of them was able to recall what had actually taken place. The last thing they could remember was Tulip trying to get "Mike the cocker spaniel" to hit the last joint of the evening.

Peter got out of bed, wrapping the sheet around him as he did so. He shook as he walked across the room towards a pacing and shaking Davy. Davy turned to pace in the direction Peter was in and ran into him.

"Don't do that!"

"I didn't! You're the one who ran into me!" Peter protested

"Why you got a sheet on you? You look weird."

"Well… um… Captain Undies, At least _I _have the decency to cover up while I'm nearly naked."

"Did you jus' call me Captain Undies?"

"Well would you rather I call you the Manchester Midget?"

"Ey now! There won't be none of tha'."

"Ok, ok. Before we say or do anything we regret, let's get back into bed, our _own _beds and try to get back to sleep."

Davy nodded "Right. Sleep."

They walked away from each other and over to their respected beds. They lay down in mirrored positions, both staring up at the ceiling. Try to sleep. At this point, trying to get back to sleep was already proving to be just about as possible as it would have been for Mike to try not to be a Texan. They lay unmoving and silent. Panic still rested upon their faces. What exactly had they _done _a few hours ago? Morning was not going to come soon enough for the two of them. And when it did finally come they knew that the last thing they wanted to do was have to explain to anyone what they had just experienced.

Peter walked out of the room fully dressed. He looked around the room and saw the tell-tale signs of the night before. At first he quietly shuddered, thinking about what could have happened between him and Davy. But then he brushed it out of mind as he spied where Tulip and Brownie had wound up. Tulip was lying on his back, half hanging off of the couch with his head on the floor. Brownie was sprawled out on the bandstand in front of Micky's drums and the dog was curled up beside him as a living pillow. Peter quietly chuckled before going up to the couch.

"Excuse me mister." He lightly kicked Tulip in the side "You're not allowed to sleep out here in the park."

Tulip grumbled as he stirred "Blow it out your ass officer."

Peter laughed and nudged him again "C'mon man wake up. We need the couch."

"Five more minutes."

"Gee. If you had curly brown hair I'd think you were Micky right now." Tulip only mumbled something incoherent in reply

Peter then walked over to the bandstand and bent down to pet the dog. The dog lifted his head and wagged his tail as he looked up at Peter. Brownie scratched his side before turning away from the dog, rolling off of the bandstand.

"Mother fucker…" The dog got up and walked by his head "Ah! Fuck!" Brownie sat up, waving the air next to him "Damn dog. What did you eat?"

Tulip and Peter began laughing over Brownie's sudden misfortune. Brownie stood up with all of his long light brown hair in front of his face.

"Well look at that! Cousin Itt!" Said Peter, still with a laugh in his voice

Tulip shot straight up "Cousin Itt's here? Where?"

Brownie held up both hands with middle fingers extended. He then brushed his hair out of his face. Right at that moment Davy walked out of the bedroom.

"What's going on out here?"

"Oh nothing, Davy." Peter snickered "Just waking these sleeping uglies out here."

"Oh. Sorry I missed tha'."

Tulip suddenly flipped backwards off of the couch and landed on his feet. Brownie picked up his shirt from the floor and shook it out before looking in the pockets of it. He mumbled some things including a few obscenities until he found his nearly lost bag of weed. Peter walked over to the kitchen and then looked at the other three men in the room.

"So who wants breakfast?" he flashed a dimpled smile

"Love to, Pete, but we gotta split." Said Tulip

"So soon? Drag." Davy replied

"Yeah there's some… things we gotta take care of." Brownie stated as he finally put his shirt on. He then tossed Tulip the van keys he inexplicitly had in his shirt pocket "Let's truck."

"Ok well see you guys later." Peter said with a wave

"Nice of ye to stop by."

"Thanks for letting us crash here." Said Tulip as he and Brownie reached the door

"Come by any time!"

Tulip and Brownie walked out the door, closing it behind them. All that was left with Peter and Davy, besides the dog, was an awkward silence. They looked at each other, trying to avoid eye contact. They were unable to speak to each other even if they wanted to speak. All they could do was remain in the awkward silence as they went about their morning routine together. Neither of them wished that Mike and Micky were home more than they did in that moment.


	8. You and I

Chapter eight: You and I

Just a few days later Mike and Trixie had returned from their honeymoon. Mike made the unsurprising and somewhat disappointing announcement that he was going to move to San Francisco with Trixie. This move had been an event that they were expecting ever since Mike had proposed to her, but one that they were not anticipating. It was surely going to mean the beginning of a lot of changes to come for the group of four guys. However, Mike did provide them a glimmer of hope that their friendship was far from over. He said to them that this move would only be temporary until the two of them were able to find a place in LA.

The whole time the guys were helping Mike pack his belongings, Peter and Davy seemed to be going out of their way to purposely avoid each other. A couple times they appeared almost startled when they couldn't avoid coming near each other. They crossed the room from opposite sides to drop something into the same box but stopped cold before each other. It was clear, especially when they tried not to make eye contact with each other, that there was a cloud of sheer awkwardness between them. This did not go unnoticed by the other two Monkees. Mike and Micky turned to each other after taking a minute to watch the erratic behavior of their two friends.

"Wonder what's gotten into them." Mike whispered

"I don't know. They've been acting really strange ever since you left on your honeymoon."

"Hmm… something musta happened between them that they don't want us to know about."

"It had to of been the night I was at Donnie's. Because when I came home the next morning they had already begun to act strange. You should have seen the way they greeted me."

"How was that?"

"They were just really happy to have me home. A little too happy."

Mike snickered "And you didn't ask them about it?"

"I didn't know how! I just thought they'd go back to acting like themselves after a while. But they didn't."

"Hmm well let's not worry about it unless they keep it up."

After a little bit of helping Mike pack, and trying to avoid each other, Davy and Peter separated themselves from the other two. They quietly went into their bedroom, closing the door behind them.

"Ok we really need to talk about this." Said Davy

Peter nodded "Right."

There was a wave of awkward silence once they had finally made eye contact for the first time in a few days. The eye contact, however, did not last long at all as they abruptly turned their eyes away from each other. Davy nervously fixed his hair that suddenly felt out of place while Peter looked down and shuffled his feet.

"Do you remember what happened the other night?" Peter asked, his voice squeaking a little

Davy shook his head "Do you?"

"No! God I was hoping you would have remembered."

"What are we going t' do?"

"I don't know, Davy." He paused with a sigh "How about we go about as normal and try to remember what happened?"

"Sounds good. I can manage tha'." He nodded "And in the meantime let's try not to freak out about this anymore."

"Deal."

Right then they both jumped once they heard someone pounding on the door.

"Alright you two in there!" Micky shouted while disguising his voice "This is the cops! We have this place surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

Peter walked over to the door and cracked it open with a timid expression "I'm sorry officer! I know that libary book is a week over due! Don't arrest me!"

Davy burst out laughing behind Peter "Libary!"

Peter snickered and opened the door some more while Micky began to laugh along with Davy. Peter's dimples showed up at full force as he grinned.

"What did you want, Mick?"

"We were wondering if you were going to come back out here sometimes to help us finish the packing."

"Oh yeah sure."

Peter and Davy took a look at each other before leaving the room. They were going to try their hardest to keep their deal with each other and not freak out any more about the other night.

As the four of them finished up the packing they began to reminisce about all the times they shared together in the beach house. Some of the events that they recalled, they had to admit were so crazy that they couldn't believe they had actually taken place. Micky had made a comment that those events would have only happened on television.

"Hey remember the time when Davy got conned by some little kid into taking his horse?" Asked Mike

"And Davy brought the horse inside the house and we had to try to hide it from Mr. Babbit!" Micky started laughing "I want to know how in the hell did you get the damn thing inside?"

"I 'ave to tell ye, it sure wasn't easy."

They all laughed for a moment as they pictured Davy's struggle with getting the horse into the house without anyone knowing it.

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed "Remember when Micky got that fake monkey's paw and we thought it caused him to lose his voice right before that gig audition?"

Micky laughed "I can't believe you guys didn't realize that I actually had laryngitis!" He paused to try to control his laughter "That's why I had lost my voice!"

"Well you have to admit it wasn't so bad t' have Micky unable to speak for a while." Said Davy

"Yeah I bet it… hey!"

Another bout of laughter waved over three of the four guys. After a couple seconds Micky gave in and joined them in the laughter. When the laughter died down they went back into talking about some of their fond and not so fond memories. They reminisced about the time when there was a small flood that caused Davy and Peter to move into the upstairs bedroom with Mike and Micky while repairs were being made to the downstairs bedroom. Peter reminded them about how he had to convince them on letting him bring his gong onto the bedroom. This also reminded them about the time the four of them had been woken up by two strange men coming into the house with a coffin.

"Now _that_" Mike stated "had to be the strangest thing that ever happened to us here."

"Especially when the séance began." Davy replied

Micky looked at Peter "Hey Pete did you really learn how to read when you were fifteen?"

"Oh!" Peter chuckled "No. I just like to play dumb sometimes."

"Ah so the dumb act actually _is _an act! It all makes sense."

"Speaking of act. I just happened to remember the time when Micky's acting skills came in handy."

"What time was tha' Mike?" Asked Davy

"Remember when your grandfather showed up and we all had to pretend like you were some big shot star?"

"Oh yeah!" Davy's face brightened up "Micky's acting got a lot bettah that day. Tha' was the best butler character you've evah done, Micky."

"Thanks Davy. But Peter was the butler. I was the chauffeur."

"Hey yeah." Said Peter "Where did you even get that great car?"

Micky grinned proudly "I managed to pull a few strings with a connection or two."

"Please, Mick, spare us the details." Said Mike

"Well that's not much fun."

"Maybe for you, Micky." Retorted Peter

Mike was about to say something but a car horn just outside stopped him. He softly smiled and picked up a box.

"Well fellas. I'd love to stick around and keep talking about all these memories with y'all. But my," He paused and his smile broadened "My wife is here. I have to go now."

The other three each picked up a box and followed Mike outside. Trixie sat in her car waiting with a smile. She waved at all of them before they packed the boxes into the car. Mike went back inside to get his acoustic guitar. Then with the guitar in hand, he hopped into the front seat and gave his wife a kiss. The other three guys were sad to see him leave but they smiled to show that they were happy that he was beginning his new life with Trixie. They all said their goodbyes to Mike and Trixie (each of the three guys gave Trixie a kiss in the cheek) and then the car pulled out of the garage. Micky, Davy and Peter watched the entire time as the couple drove away until the car had left their sites. Then with a bittersweet air enveloping the three of them they turned and quietly went back into the house.


	9. Early morning blues and greens

Chapter nine: Early morning blues and greens

The morning sun and sounds of the outside world were not the only things to wake the three men the following day. First there was the sound of the screeching tires and revving engine. Next to come was the sound of hoots and hollers from two very familiar voices after the vehicle they were in nearly crashed into the house. Two Monkees rushed out of the downstairs bedroom while the third Monkee did a combination of running and stumbling down the spiral staircase in a panic. Once on the floor Micky started for the door at the same time as Peter and Davy. He ran into Davy and both of them fell to the floor.

"Get off me man!" Micky grumbled as he shoved Davy off of his legs

"Sorry mate."

By the time they had gotten up, Peter had opened the door and looked outside. No sooner did he do that had Brownie and Tulip came barreling inside, nearly knocking Micky and Davy over again.

"The hell is this all about?" Micky asked

"Hey Pete nice pj's!" Said Tulip, ignoring Micky

"Dig the blue bunny." Added Brownie

"Oh um thanks." Peter tugged at his pajamas as he looked at them "I like the bunny too." He grinned

"Alright. We all dig Peter's pajamas." Said Micky "But I would like to know one thing. Why are you guys here?"

"Well you see something was going down at our place. Or it was going to go down. So we spilt before it did. And now we need a place to crash." Brownie explained

Micky nodded "In other words you two were paranoid about being busted at your place so you came here to hide out."

"I think that's hitting the nail on the head." Tulip replied "By the way, just some advice, don't try to flush your stash especially if you have old plumbing. Water everywhere. Real messy."

Brownie reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the remains of his drowned bag of weed. He sighed with a grimace as he held up the pathetic wet mess in his hand.

"Tried but couldn't save 'er."

"You actually carried that bloody thing with you?" Asked Davy

"Brownie panicked. We left in a hurry after the whole toilet flood fiasco."

"So um… can we crash here?"

"Could you hold on a sec?" Peter asked

Micky Davy and Peter stepped away from them so they could quietly discuss the situation. Their discussion didn't last very long before they had reached a unanimous decision and turned back towards the two of them.

"Well guys," Peter said "We decided that you can stay as long as you need."

"Outta sight!"

"We knew you guys wouldn't let us down."

"Yeah well we like to help out whenever we can." Micky replied with a soft grin

Brownie placed a hand on Micky's shoulder "It's a good thing you do. Otherwise we'd be fucked."

After a quick clothing change the three Monkees and their two friends gathered around the bandstand. They each took an instrument and began messing around. Brownie sat behind Micky's drums and began beating on them much like Animal of the Muppets. Tulip picked up the guitar that Mike had left behind while Peter took to the bass. Micky and Davy each picked a small percussion instrument; Micky the tambourine and Davy a pair of maracas. The five of them then began a wild jam session that had Micky and Davy alternating on lead vocals. One of them commented, jokingly, that they should be a band, and the other four laughed.

Right before they had a chance to go into another song they were interrupted by the phone ringing. Davy was the one who got up to answer it. He jumped off of the bandstand, leapt onto the couch and then hopped down onto the floor, landing in a pirouette on one foot before he actually walked over to the phone. The others, Micky and Peter especially, rolled their eyes over the show off.

"Ello? Hi Mike!" he put his hand over the mouth piece of the receiver and looked at the others with a bright smile "It's Mike!" He went back to talking on the phone. After a minute he looked at the other guys again "Ey Micky he wants t' talk t' you."

Micky got up and walked over to where Davy was with the phone "Great." He took the phone away from Davy "Um could you maybe, uh," He motioned across the room, as a signal for Davy to join the others to give him privacy. Davy nodded and then walked back over to the bandstand. Micky quietly talked to Mike on the phone for a minute before looking over at Peter "Pete phone's yours."

Peter dimple-grinned and walked over to Micky. Micky handed him the phone before walking away "Hi Michael! How are you after the big move?"

As Peter talked to Mike, Micky sat on the bandstand with a soft grin on his face. The grin was almost dreamlike but it oddly also had a little bit of a frowning tint to it. Davy noticed this out of place expression and asked him about it. Micky simply replied by saying that he'd say after Peter got off the phone. When Peter hung up he walked back over to the bandstand. Micky stood up and asked Brownie and Tulip to leave the room to give them some privacy. Confused and a little concerned, Peter and Davy looked at Micky and asked him what was going on.

"Guys I…. I waited to tell anyone this until after Mike moved out so I wouldn't step on anyone's toes."

"What's up, Mick?" Peter asked, still a little concerned

"Is this bad news?"

"No. No it's good. Well it's good to me. I just don't know how you two are going to take it."

"Oh…" Peter and Davy apprehensively said together

"Well uh… The night Mike and Trixie got married, you know I spent the night at Donnie's place. We spent a lot of time talking that night… and um… Ok I'll just come out and say it. We decided to move in together."

Stunned silence. Micky swallowed as he looked at his two friends. A mixture of emotions ran over them but finally they both managed to form small smiles.

"That's great." Said Davy

"Wonderful." Added Peter

Micky hesitated "Aren't you happy for me?"

"Oh yes Micky!" Davy stood with a smile "It's jus' tha' Mike had gotten married and he just moved out yesterday."

"Everything is changing around here all at once." Peter finished for him

Micky nodded "I understand. All these changes are going to be weird but we'll all get through them together. We'll all still be friends and see each other and have the band and all that. But now Mike is married and I'm going to be living with my boyfriend."

"It'll definitely take time for us to get used to." Peter said. He smiled "But together we can get through it."

"That's right. We're all here for each other right down the line. Ye hear tha'? Right. Down. The. Line."

Micky smiled "That's right baby. Nothing can split us up."

Peter smiled even though he appeared a little teary-eyed, and outstretched his arms "Group hug!"

Micky and Davy snickered, knowing that they couldn't resist. They both wrapped their arms around Peter, giving him a nice tight hug from either side. Peter laughed and hugged them back.

"I wish Mike was here."

"How come?"

'This hug would be better with him! More complete."

"Aw Petah."

Micky chuckled "Pete you're alright."

Peter's dimples deepened as his smile grew "Thank you."

The three of them separated with matching smiles.

"Speaking of Mike," Said Peter "He doesn't know about this yet. Does he?"

"Oh yeah he knows. In fact he just gave me his blessing over the phone."

"That's great." Davy smiled "So when are you moving out?"

"I'm planning on leaving by the end of this week. But don't worry; I'll only be moving across town. Not all the way to San Francisco or anything like that."

"Well that's very refreshing." Peter grinned

"Ye know wot's funny? I just realized tha' the first two of us to live 'ere are the first two to move out."

"Hey that's right, Davy." Micky snickered "I didn't think about that before."

"It's going to be kind of lonely around here with you and Mike gone." Peter confessed with a fading smile

"You could find a couple new roommates." Micky suggested

"We should. We would need someone t' 'elp us out with the rent."

Peter shrugged "But who do we know to ask to be roommates?"

"Well… there's always the two Incredible Stoner brothers." Micky pointed towards the balcony where Tulip and Brownie could be seen emerged in their own conversation

"Ey yeah! We already said they could stay 'ere for a while."

"They're pretty ok guys to have around too. As long as they don't get us in trouble with the law…"

Davy turned to Peter "What do you say, Petah?"

"I say, once we talk to them about it we've got two new roommates." They shook hands

"It's settled then."

Micky placed a hand on both of their backs "Looks like this turned out to be a pretty good day." He grinned "But one thing still bothers me. Yesterday you two were acting very strange and I want to know why."

Davy and Peter looked nervously at each other before looking at Micky. Tulip and Brownie quietly came back inside unnoticed by the other three. Then, without warning, the following statement bolted out of the mouths of the suddenly very nervous Peter and Davy.

"We slept together!"

Micky stepped away wide-eyed and his jaw unhinged. Tulip and Brownie snapped their hands in their direction in surprise.

"Whoa…"

"Far out!"

Micky shook his head "Excuse me what? I think I heard you wrong. I could have sworn I heard you say that you slept together."

"That's exactly what we said." Peter hung his head

"You mean you two _slept _together as in you fucked? Or you slept, slept?"

"We still haven't figured tha' out yet." Davy confessed "All we know is we woke up in the same bed and we were snuggling and in our underwear."

"And the night before we were partying with those two." Peter pointed to Brownie and Tulip

Micky nodded "Ah so it's beginning to make sense. I can see it now. You were both feeling really good, got undressed and crawled into bed. You were probably unaware that you were in the same bed and you probably passed out right away."

"You might be right! You might be right. But how do you explain the part where we were snuggling?" Davy asked

"Well… I did wake up wondering where my teddy bear was… maybe I thought you were the bear when I went to sleep."

Davy and Peter were able to sigh in relief, happy that this issue had been resolved to their liking. After that had taken place the five of them gathered together and began to discuss the new changes that would take place in that beach house over the next few days. The changes that they were all going to face together suddenly didn't seem quite so bad any more.


	10. As we go along

Chapter ten: As we go along

A few days later Mike and Tixie came by the house to help with more packing. This time they were packing up Micky's belongings. This would turn out to be the biggest moving day for them with Micky moving out and Tulip and Brownie moving in. Things certainly had changed quite a bit around the beach house but the guys were starting to feel completely ready to embrace the changes that were being made. The overall atmosphere was bittersweet that day, but mainly sweet. There was also a lot of discussion going about the group within the house. The Monkees shared some of their stories about living in the house together. These stories included their tales about how they all met and when they first moved into the house.

Those stories got the other three to share their own stories of origin such as how Tulip and Brownie once hated each other when they met, and how back then neither of them had even dreamt of smoking pot. Brownie even confessed how he was always so clean-cut and on the "pure" side. Tulip said how he personally was a little more rebellious than Brownie was, but still clean-cut. However, he was the one who convinced Brownie that the two of them should smoke pot, but at the same time he claimed that Brownie was the one who smoke first and influenced him. Brownie corrected him by saying that he may have been the one to actually hit the joint first, but it was Tulip's idea all day long to even smoke.

After the pot discussion Trixie began telling them about how she met August. However, because of their current feelings towards the guy, she only gave them the condensed version of the story. She quickly moved on to her version of the origin of The Nuggets. Tulip and Brownie also chimed into the story where ever they saw fit. Tulip also ended the story with what turned out to be the all ready known description of Micky singing for them.

"…and then one day out of the blue, some curly-haired weirdo showed up and started singing for the band. Man I tell ya he could not sing worth shit and he told the worst jokes. And he was so energetic that sometimes I wanted to smash him over the head with my guitar. That guy was a real drag to have around. You know what I mean, Micky?"

"Yeah I know a guy like that." Micky said while trying to keep a straight face "That reminds me of the time when I went to sing for another band. There was this guitar player who had no business playing the guitar. He stunk so bad and half the time he looked as though he couldn't figure out where to place his fingers. But in his mind he thought he was Hendrix. I wanted to take his guitar away from him and smash it into pieces on the floor."

For just a short moment the drummer and the guitarist put on matching fake scowls directed at one another. Their scowls melted into smiles as they shared a laugh. Tulip patted Micky's back.

"You're alright, man."

Micky rested his elbow on Tulip's shoulder "Thanks. So are you."

"If you two are through," Mike said while trying to remain straight-faced "We should help these two dirty hippies move into the house."

"Oh I'm already moved in." Brownie stated, picking up his stuffed backpack "Just point me to my room and I'll be golden."

"Don't you have a drum set somewhere?" Asked Trixie

"Oh yeah. I already stored it in the garage."

"All we really have to move in is my stuff." Said Tulip "And that won't take long at all."

"Great." Mike turned to look at Micky "What about you?"

"All set. Once Donnie gets here I'll pack my stuff into his car."

"You're not taking the Monkeemobile?" Davy asked, wide-eyed

"But you love that car!" Added the equally surprised Peter

"I thought about taking it with me. But then I thought it was our car to share and that if I took it, you guys would be left to walk everywhere." He placed his hand on the side of his face and spoke in a dramatic whisper "Especially since I know how you two feel about Tulip's driving." He finished with a wink

Davy and Peter grinned as they both snickered.

"What's wrong with my driving?" Everyone else laughed over Tulip's question. "Seriously what's wrong with it?" They all looked at him like he was crazy. At first he looked at them seriously but then his face cracked into a smile as he let out a laugh "I'm just kidding. My driving scares myself sometimes. I often wonder about the dumbass who gave me a license and what he was thinking that day."

The others fired back with expressions and laughter that read "Good one." With all the kidding aside the group separated into two smaller groups one of four and the other of three. The four Monkees had gathered together to discuss something very important. They had to decide what to do about the band. It was understood that getting together for band practice was now going to be rather difficult now that two of them were going to be living elsewhere. But then the thought occurred to them that most bands around don't live together like the four of them had. When it came down to it, it was unanimous they didn't want the band to come to an end. They were willing to work a little harder to keep the band going, knowing that it would be worth it to all of them. The two groups then came together and shared what they had been discussing. Tulip, Brownie and Trixie, at the same time The Monkees were discussing their band, had decided to re-form The Nuggets as a trio. Trixie said that she would be the singer, which was what she wanted for a while. And the others said that she really was the best candidate for the roll.

Not long after this, Donnie arrived. After Donnie gave his boyfriend a kiss and greeted the others, he and Micky packed Micky's belongings into the car. Then the time had come for Micky to say his goodbyes to everyone. He stood in front of the door with an expression that was a mixture between smug and sad, and looked almost as though he was going to give a bow or speech.

"Well looks like you won't be seeing me sliding down the banister any more." He paused with a sigh and then looked at the stairs "What the hell. One more for the road."

He trotted up to the top of the spiral stairs and then slid down the railing one final time. The others simply smiled and thought to themselves that this day would not have been complete if they hadn't seen Micky slide down the banister at some point. Micky then went up to everyone, giving them each a hug and said goodbye to them once more before heading back over to the door. He and Donnie then stepped outside and got into Donnie's car. Inside the house Mike stood with his arms wrapped around Trixie and a gentle, proud smile on his lips.

"He'll do just fine."

"Our Micky's all grown up and moving out on his own." Trixie said while imitating Mike's southern drawl. To this Mike only brightened his smile

At this point Tulip and Brownie had gone off to explore their new home together. Davy and Peter grinned at each other before walking over to Mike and Trixie. All four of them then met in a group hug. A couple seconds into the hug someone commented that if Micky was there the hug would have been complete. This caused the four of them to chorus together in laughter.

Just a week later The Monkees had gathered together in the house for the first band practice since Mike and Micky had moved out. Trixie had come over with Mike but left shortly before the practice had started, without letting them know what she was up to. However, they decided that they wouldn't question anything about it since they knew that she would explain once she returned. Instead they jumped right into their band practice. This had actually been their first time practicing since right before the wedding but they played as though they had just done it the day before.

Part way through the practice Trixie strolled in through the front door with a smile. She sat on the couch and happily listened to them as they finished the song they were in the middle of. When the song was done all four guys approached her at once, all but Mike speaking to her. Davy and Peter finished what they were saying, Mike greeted her with a kiss, and Micky continued his ramble to whoever would pretend to listen. Once they were certain that Micky was finished talking, Mike asked Trixie where she had gone to.

"I was actually at my old house." She stood up "I have been keeping a surprise for all of you guys. Well mainly for Michael but you guys will like it too."

"Well what is it?"

"Tell us!"

"I was able to get my old house back since it has not been sold. It has officially been put into mine and Michael's names. Michael the house is ours!"

"Are you serious?" Mike asked with a smile "We have a house here in LA?"

Trixie nodded vigorously with a smile "Yes Michael! At the end of this month we can move in!"

"That's wonderful honey!" he gave her a big kiss

Meanwhile the other three guys stood there watching with matching expressions of glee. The three of them then linked together and jumped up and down as they shouted in celebration. Trixie whistled loudly to get their attention. They stopped and looked at her.

"There's one more thing. I also happened to talk to Donnie the other day." She said

"My Donnie?" Asked Micky "You're not stealing him away from me, are you?" He joked

"Oh yes, Micky. Donnie and I have been having a secret affair. It's now out in the open."

"I knew it!" Micky dramatically exclaimed

"You hussy!" Mike yelled in mock-disgust

Trixie laughed and the two guys retained their normal expressions "Any way. As I was saying, Donnie and I were talking the other day about you guys and The Nuggets. I originally was going to ask him if he was interested in becoming the forth member of The Nuggets."

"That would be a disaster." stated Micky "I love him but, man, he's got no music talent whatsoever. In fact he has the opposite of music talent."

"Exactly what he said. But then… wait did you just say you love Donnie?" She smirked

"Yeah I did." He smiled with a slight blush "But that's not what we're waiting to hear about."

"Oh alright. Any way, long story short, Donnie has agreed to manage both The Monkees and The Nuggets."

The guys showed their enthusiasm over the news Trixie had brought them. Not only did they all get to be closer together but thanks to Micky's boyfriend the bands would be able to get more, and better paid gigs. And since Donnie would be managing both bands that meant there was a good chance they would play together at the gigs. This caused them to all celebrate. In just a few months the lives of this group of young people had dramatically changed, but to them it looked as though it was for the better.

Just a few months ago The Monkees were still sharing their beloved beach house as a struggling band. It occurred to them that if the events of the summer had not taken place they would not have been on their way out of this perpetual struggle they had been in for the past few years, Micky would not have felt comfortable to finally come out as a bisexual, they would not have met their newest friends, and Mike would not have made Trixie his wife. They all were more than glad that these changes had taken place when they had. They also felt that this wasn't an end of an era, but rather a great start to a brand new era. And this new beginning for them they were ready to embrace.


End file.
